Album Moods

Early Singles

AllMusic Review
by Mark Deming

While Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers were longer lived and E.U. scored the biggest national hit, Trouble Funk was the best and most interesting group to come out of the Washington, D.C., go-go scene, and its relentless pursuit of the good groove, propelled by buoyant horn charts, P-Funk-inspired keyboard lines, and tireless percussion jams, was a potent and satisfying reminder in the dying days of the disco era of just how joyous, muscular, and human good dance music could sound. This compilation (released by former D.C. resident and longtime fan Henry Rollins -- yep, that Henry Rollins) features eight cuts from the band's early, self-released 12" singles, where Trouble Funk could stretch out its tracks to eight to ten minutes without outside influences urging the band to shoot for something more commercial or radio-friendly; this is go-go with enough grease for purists and enough groove to win converts, including the epochal "Supergrit," "So Early in the Morning," and an idiosyncratic reworking of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express." A valuable archival release that will also give you enough fuel to set the dancefloor burning all night long.